Edward W. McGaughey

Edward Wilson McGaughey (January 16, 1817 – August 6, 1852) was a U.S. Representative from Indiana.

McGaughey was born near Greencastle, Indiana and attended the public schools. He was the Deputy clerk of Putnam County. He was admitted to the bar in 1835 and commenced practice in Greencastle, Indiana. He served as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives in 1839 and 1840.

In 1842 McGaughey was prosecutor in the notable murder trial of Noah Beauchamp. He successfully got a conviction and death sentence for Beauchamp, which was the first legal execution in that county.

He served in the Indiana State Senate for the session from December 5, 1842 to February 13, 1843. He resigned before the beginning of the next session, and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Twenty-eighth Congress.

He was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1847). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1846 to the Thirtieth Congress. He moved to Rockville, Indiana, in 1846 and resumed the practice of law.

McGaughey was elected to the Thirty-first Congress (March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851), and was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1850 to the Thirty-second Congress. While in Congress he voted for the Fugitive Slave Act, being only one of three Whigs who did so. He was nominated by President Taylor as Governor of Minnesota Territory in 1849, but the Senate failed to confirm the nomination.

He moved to California in 1852. He died in San Francisco, California, August 6, 1852, and was interred in Yerba Buena Cemetery.

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